Author & 22-Day Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: "Work on your craft and build your name at the same time, with ease."--photo by author Lynn Scott

I am delighted to be on this blog tour. My turn to answer the 4 questions about my writing process.

1) “What are you working on?”

Teresa LeYung-Ryan: I’m smiling as I answer this question. I am working on two projects. A prescriptive nonfiction project – Build Your Writing Life In 22 Days (the second workbook in my 22-Day series); and a narrative nonfiction project – I’m actually writing my first memoir. No more hiding behind the protagonist in my first novel Love Made of Heart:a Mother’s Mental Illness Forges Forgiveness in Daughter Ruby. By the way . . . the working title of my memoir is Moon CroneDriving Without a Steering Wheel: How this Writer Journeyed Through Early Menopause, Depression, and Love.

Looking at my own blog posts, I see that the muse for my memoir first appeared in October 2012:

Teresa LeYung-Ryan: There must be other authors who have written/are writing about being a writer, surviving menopause, and living with depression. Probably my work carries a distinctive voice because I am a female Chinese-American immigrant from Hong Kong with these experiences – lived with a beautiful mother who suffered mental illness and the cruel stigmas; escaped from violence when I was a young woman; worked in a government agency, a public agency, as well as in the private sector; blessed with a caring community of extended family members, colleagues and friends; use all my literary works (fiction and nonfiction) to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their loved ones AND to speak out against injustice and violent behavior.

3) Why do you write the subject matters you write about?

Teresa LeYung-Ryan: How can I not write about mental illness, stigmas, rejection, joys and sorrows, the immigrant experience, poverty, and saying NO to everyday meanness, injustice, and violence? The act of writing is the way I express my memories, observations and intentions. An artist might employ paint, canvas, wood, and metal to do her/his work. I am a writer; therefore I employ words (choice and placement of words) to do mine.

4) What is your writing process?

Teresa LeYung-Ryan: As I tell my friends . . . I am pregnant with a memoir. I write every day. At bus stops, on public transportation, in waiting rooms (including jury assembly room). I journal to track authentic details, sometimes at the beginning of the day, sometimes at the end. With the help of Martha Alderson and her Blockbuster Plots and Plot Whisperer books, I am replotting my story. I’ve begun writing scenes and rereading memoirs (including Woven of Water by Luisa Adams) [ A note to self and all memoirists: when writing nonfiction, we cannot change the sequence of events for dramatic effect; we cannot embellish or diminish the details; if we do not follow these rules, then we cannot label our work nonfiction. ]

Also, I write editorial memos for manuscript clients and coaching notes for my fanbase-building clients. I blog as the 22-Day Writing and Platform and Fanbase-Building Coach Teresa. http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/ I love the act of composing/rewriting/restructuring/more rewriting – these practices help me to really “reach out, not stress out.” http://writingcoachTeresa.com

And, I rewrite/update my presentations. For example, on June 10, 2014, 4:00-5:00om I’ll be in California at the San Mateo County Fair’s Literary Arts Stage as a feature guest on “3 Short Plays with 3 Playwrights hosted by Darlene Frank” with the other two feature guests Ollie Mae Trost Welch and David Hirzel. I’ll be performing “What Am I Going to Do Now?” which is a new monologue for my “Talking to My Dead Mom” series.

Click here for a list of my appearances/workshops (including June 10, 2014 at San Mateo County Fair’s Literary Arts Stage; June 21, 2014 at California Writers’ Club Tri-Valley Branch in Pleasanton, CA)

* * * * * * * * *Now I pass the torch to two fabulous colleagues – Mary E. Knippel and Yolande Barial – who will be on the “My Writing Process” blog tour, so, please visit them at their blogs on and after Friday, May 23, 2014.

Yolande Barial

Yolande Barial is the proud mother of three remarkable children. She is known as the sensually spiritual poet/writer/blogger and columnist, and, has performed spoken word in venues (including Starbucks) throughout the SF-Oakland Bay Area from 2003 to present. Yolande is a contributing author in 3 anthologies – If Women Ruled the World; Oakland’s Neighborhoods; More of Life’s Spices: Seasoned Sistahs Keepin’ It Real. Also, she is playwright and director of “Images of the King: A Child’s Dream” (a children’s play), a Red Room author, and contributor to the “Stockton Motherhood” column for Examiner.com. Yolande’s column “Mothers Corner” appears monthly in the Tracy Press newspaper. Visit Yolande Barial’s blog http://just-a-mom.us/

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Mary E. Knippel

Mary E. Knippel, author, speaker and writing mentor, is fiercely committed to guiding aspiring authors and entrepreneurs to polish their words so that they sparkle and shine; her clients come to her to get help when they feel paralyzed about where to begin, what to say, and how to make sense of the life-changing messages. A journal writer since the age of eleven, Mary knows the enormous power of the written word. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, she herself relied on writing in her own recovery. Her upcoming book, The Secret Artist: Give Yourself Permission to Let Your Creativity Shine, chronicles the healing results. Check out her online writing classes, writing tips, workshops, upcoming book, and blog http://yourwritingmentor.com